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Magic Items, and what it says about the editions
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<blockquote data-quote="Salamandyr" data-source="post: 6895171" data-attributes="member: 40233"><p>One of the things a lot of people have missed about earlier editions (1e & B/X-BECMI) was the extent to which magical items were a balancing factor between classes. As a really obvious example--clerics limitation to maces and flails wasn't just intended to be thematic, or even to make them use less effective weapons (by default they all used the same die anyway) but to keep them from using the most powerful of magic weapons--magic swords.</p><p></p><p>At higher levels, just like in 3e and on, magic users and clerics had magical powers as part of their class, but fighters, and to a lesser extent thieves (thieves were really the poor cousin of early D&D--look how little attention they got in <em>Dragon</em>, and the only advice on how to run games for them in the DMG was how to screw them over) had access to the same powers through magical items, and were a more robust magic deployment platform thanks to better underlying stats. </p><p></p><p>I recall a talk by one of the early gamers talking about how Fighters were actually the best solo class in the game--and what magical items basically made them complete death machines in those early games--and it wasn't the magic swords, but the elven cloaks and boots, and amulets of enemy detection. Sure a magic user could use those things too, or boots of flying, but it was redundancy, mimicking spells they probably already had, giving them a little more longevity, but no more power; on a fighter, every magic item was a force multiplier. (linear wizard/quadratic fighter!)</p><p></p><p>3e turned it on its head, by turning the magic item economy around. Now the <em>Fighters</em> had the most limited access to magic, and what magic they could use was the most expensive and limited and did nothing but mildly improve the things they were already supposed to be good at, while the wizards and the clerics had access not only to their spells but all the best magic items too...and they could also use whatever items the fighter had access to.</p><p></p><p>Maybe though that's the way players prefer. I recently ran a game that had a pair of boots of flying as a treasure that would have dramatically improved the effectiveness of any of the melee classes in the party. They were even dedicated to the god the paladin worshipped (they were going to meet a flying monster soon). </p><p></p><p> They gave them to the wizard...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salamandyr, post: 6895171, member: 40233"] One of the things a lot of people have missed about earlier editions (1e & B/X-BECMI) was the extent to which magical items were a balancing factor between classes. As a really obvious example--clerics limitation to maces and flails wasn't just intended to be thematic, or even to make them use less effective weapons (by default they all used the same die anyway) but to keep them from using the most powerful of magic weapons--magic swords. At higher levels, just like in 3e and on, magic users and clerics had magical powers as part of their class, but fighters, and to a lesser extent thieves (thieves were really the poor cousin of early D&D--look how little attention they got in [I]Dragon[/I], and the only advice on how to run games for them in the DMG was how to screw them over) had access to the same powers through magical items, and were a more robust magic deployment platform thanks to better underlying stats. I recall a talk by one of the early gamers talking about how Fighters were actually the best solo class in the game--and what magical items basically made them complete death machines in those early games--and it wasn't the magic swords, but the elven cloaks and boots, and amulets of enemy detection. Sure a magic user could use those things too, or boots of flying, but it was redundancy, mimicking spells they probably already had, giving them a little more longevity, but no more power; on a fighter, every magic item was a force multiplier. (linear wizard/quadratic fighter!) 3e turned it on its head, by turning the magic item economy around. Now the [I]Fighters[/I] had the most limited access to magic, and what magic they could use was the most expensive and limited and did nothing but mildly improve the things they were already supposed to be good at, while the wizards and the clerics had access not only to their spells but all the best magic items too...and they could also use whatever items the fighter had access to. Maybe though that's the way players prefer. I recently ran a game that had a pair of boots of flying as a treasure that would have dramatically improved the effectiveness of any of the melee classes in the party. They were even dedicated to the god the paladin worshipped (they were going to meet a flying monster soon). They gave them to the wizard... [/QUOTE]
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